A Russian missile strike on Friday destroyed an apartment building in the resort village of Serhiivka, near Odesa, with Ukrainian officials stating that 19 people were killed.
By 1:00 a.m. on Friday, a section of the nine-story building had been turned into rubble, with emergency crews and neighbors searching through the wreckage for survivors, Reuters reported.
The blast also destroyed walls and windows of a 14-story apartment complex next to the building.
Authorities put the death toll in the building at 16 residents, and three killed, including a child, at a holiday camp close by.
In total, 41 residents had to be pulled from the wreckage of the building, where 152 people live.
The governor of the region described the attack as coming from the Black Sea, saying that Russian troops fired Soviet-era missiles.
The Kremlin denied being behind the missile strike.
“I would like to remind you of the president’s words that the Russian Armed Forces do not work with civilian targets,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said at a press conference.